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Weird wreck sends car into chicken restaurant on 82nd

The impulsive shopper who turned into another car on the way to Fred Meyer is not the outlaw -- the driver of the car she hit now is.

A two-vehicle collision on S.E. 82nd Avenue of Roses – reported at 8:29 a.m., on July 12 – ended up with a late-model Oldsmobile Intrigue planted, nose deep, into the stucco siding of the "Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen" at 8111 S.E. Foster Road.

"I heard this terrible crash, and a 'thud' that shook the whole building – I was afraid it would come down," remarked the worker who'd been opening up the store for the day. "Look how close the car came to hitting my Jeep."

Simultaneously, police cars and fire engines pulled up; the firefighters were concerned that the crash could have broken natural gas lines into the building. However, that fire crew, from PF&R Lents Station 11, found nothing amiss, and left after investigating the crash.

An East Precinct officer said, based on witness statements, that the crash had actually started on southbound S.E. 82nd Avenue of Roses, parallel with the Fred Meyer shopping center, when two vehicles had collided.

Officers learned that the driver of the Oldsmobile was traveling in the center southbound, lane – and impulsively had made an abrupt, illegal right hand turn, across the lanes, attempting to dash into the shopping center parking lot. But there was another vehicle in the right lane.

The red Olds turned towards a black Range Rover, and collided with it, with damage to the driver's side of the SUV – which left bits of trim, plastic light covers, and other debris in the street.

The story really turns strange at this point, as the victim of the crash suddenly became the wanted party – by failing to stop.

Although the SUV was badly damaged in the crash, the driver kept on going. Now the police are looking for him or her, on a charge of – at least – "failure to perform duties of a driver". They could charge him or her with more, when they find out just why the Ranger Rover driver was so reluctant to stop.

As the driver of the SUV sped off southbound, the Olds veered west into the Fred Meyer parking lot, curved toward the south, popped over a curb, and smashed right into the Popeye's building.

That driver was taken to a hospital with injuries which the officers first described as serious, but were later downgraded to "non-life threatening", according to officials.

While in the hospital, the driver who smashed into the fried chicken store was later charged with "making an unlawful turn", and "careless driving resulting in an accident". At last report, the police were still looking for the other driver.